UN's Helen Clark: CO2 could cause agricultural yields to fall 50% in some African countries by 2050; CO2 may also cause meningitis epidemics

Some African countries could see agricultural yields decrease by fifty per cent by 2050....The average price of staple foods is now expected to rise over the long term, with some scenarios suggesting that wheat prices will be locked in at fifteen per cent higher in 2050. ...The Arctic sea ice has just reached its lowest level in thousands of years. ...Climate variability and extreme conditions such as floods can trigger epidemics of diseases, such as diarrhoea, malaria, dengue fever, and meningitis. ...The death toll from cyclones in Bangladesh, for example, was reduced from around 500,000 people in 1970 to 3,000 in 2007, thanks in part to improved early warning systems. ...Recent estimates suggest that our carbon-intensive economies cost the world around US$1.2 trillion a year -or 1.6 per cent of total global GDP.